We’ve given you a look inside some of the most stunningly designed office spaces in Israel.
Now we go to the wild side with this overview of unusual, clever office designs and elements that can’t fail to bring a smile to the faces of people lucky enough to work in them.
CYLUS CYBER: Choo-choo décor
Israeli startup Cylus Cyber makes cybersecurity solutions for railway and metro networks.
In keeping with that theme, its 21st floor Tel Aviv office was designed by architect Maya Elazar and designer Lior Israel to look like a sleek European Metro passenger train. Even CEO Amir Levintal’s office resembles a passenger compartment.
A painted yellow stripe stretches along the floor like the line that separates the passengers from the tracks, and the key-card system employees use to gain entrance has the look and feel of a Metro card machine.
WSC SPORTS: Jorkyball champs
WSC Sports in Givatayim is one of Israel’s hottest sports-tech startups, working with clients such as FIBA and the NBA. Its AI-driven platform enables fans to create customized short-form video content automatically, on demand, from live sports broadcasts.
But it’s not all work and no play at WSC headquarters. The office encompasses a video-game corner and a glass-walled jorkyball court where employees can hone their skills at this two-vs-two form of football. A discreet shower next to the court ensures that workers are fresh and clean before heading back to their desks.
TRIGO VISION: A supermarket in an office
Trigo Vision is a retail-tech startup developing revolutionary automated vision- and AI-based systems for check-in, checkout, inventory control, customer insights and shoplifting prevention.
Trigo’s Tel Aviv corporate headquarters contains a real supermarket where employees can test the technologies while getting their grocery shopping done in a futuristic setting where they never have to stand in line or remember to bring a wallet.
HINOMAN: A big green smoothie
The recently completed Hinoman headquarters in Rishon Lezion fully embraces the fact that the company developed an innovative technology for year-round cultivation of the highly nutritious aquatic plant Mankai, a “superfood” form of duckweed native to Vietnam.
Roy David Architecture of Tel Aviv recruited artist Ohad Benit and designer Avi Fadida to create myriad wooden handcrafted elements for the walls and ceilings to evoke the feel of a Vietnam forest. Dynamic features and use of brilliant green color throughout the space created a riverlike fluidity with “social islands” embedded in it.
JOYTUNES: Jamming at work
A musical startup that developed Simply Piano and many other popular applications for learning to play keyboards and other musical instruments, JoyTunes commissioned Roy David Architecture to plan a fully equipped performance area in its Tel Aviv office so that the programmers and musicians on staff can have a high-quality jam session anytime.
Strategically located next to the kitchen and dining areas to provide entertainment for everybody on break, the room is stocked with instruments including pianos, electric guitars, electronic drums and woodwinds, enhanced by professional lighting and amplification systems.
AUTODESK: Make your own office
Autodesk makes 3D software for the engineering and construction industries. So it’s only fitting that Autodesk’s 140 Tel Aviv employees designed and printed many of the elements in their four-level development center in Rothschild Tower — including wall coverings, ceiling tiles, lampshades, statues, flowerpots and decorative shelving.
Employees also use the 3D printers on premises to fashion whatever they happen to need on a moment’s notice, whether a screwdriver or a cup, rather than buying such items at a store.
YAD2: Secondhand treasures
The Bnei Brak headquarters of this very popular real estate, automobile and secondhand merchandise marketplace were decorated by Keren Rozner of Tel Aviv’s Rozner Studio with – what else? – vintage items and elements evocative of dwellings and cars. The effect is a fresh, amusing and entirely appropriate design language.
PERCEPTO: Indulging the inner geek
Yes, they work all day for a drone company whose clients include several Fortune 500 organizations, but the geeks at Percepto just can’t get enough. Rather than discourage these hobbyists from indulging their passion at the office, the Modi’in-based startup set up a drone-building workshop on premises for the fun of it.
CHEGG: Cool comics collection
At the heart of the Rehovot offices of the Israeli development center of the American ed-tech company Chegg is one of the most impressive comics collections in Israel.
Yehuda Gilad, a senior software engineer at the company, began buying up comic books and graphic novels from across the world 20 years ago. He decided to transfer the collection to the office, where it was given a place of honor.
Other Chegg employees have since added to the library, which encompasses five and a half meters of shelving to hold more than 100 comic books in English and Hebrew.